


The Mother We Share

by Arcaya



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Multi, Party, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Rivalry, Space capitalism, abrasax siblings, regenex, space hedonism, space incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-18 13:24:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3571223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcaya/pseuds/Arcaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series following the Abrasax siblings in the wake of their mother's death. Sanity slippages, inappropriate sibling bonding, and space hedonism ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Party

**Author's Note:**

> Note: While this series will generally follow the continuity that exists within the movie - there are a few little tweaks here and there to the continuity of events

It had been a long night. The vast expanse of Titus' ballroom was littered here and there with women, most of whom were asleep by now; all of them exerted from a combination of alcohol, dancing, and indiscriminate fucking. It was always indiscriminate, Titus thought to himself, stepping over a splice girl who lay passed out near one of the stone pillars. Some were splices, some entirely human, some came from respected houses (not that it was possible for them to be on his level, of course) and others were just…what? Servants, or something. Who cared? They were all the same to him.

"Where are you going, sweetie?" Titus flinched as he felt the touch of a woman's hand against his leg. He turned to see the splice girl gripping to him, her eyes rolling slightly and her lolling mouth attempting some sort of seductive, inebriated smirk. "You can't be going to bed already."

"Perhaps it would be best  _you_  did." Titus muttered, indifferently, breaking free from her grip and walking briskly out of the ball room.

Once he had reached his bedroom, Titus found himself gazing at his reflection in the mirror. His head hurt. How was it he was able to pass through centuries untarnished and still manage to acquire a hangover? He stared at himself - transfixed, paranoid, and afraid. Had he aged recently? Last week he could have sworn he did not look a day over twenty three. Maybe it was just the hangover. Maybe he should take a Regenex bath anyway.

Titus felt himself panic at the concept of having potentially aged. Unlike his brother and sister, he did not allow even a remote opportunity for his body to age past his twenties. He didn't want to know what he'd look like as a mortal, as Kalique claimed to be her reasoning behind allowing herself to age somewhat. It terrified him. Besides his wealth, Titus found his youthful appearance was all he had, it was the only reassuring truth left in his everlasting life. He needed it.

The party had gotten out of hand, as it usually did. Titus wouldn't have usually cared, and maybe he didn't that much still, but part of him found himself wincing as his head began to clear and he remembered the purpose of the gathering-turned-debauched-nightmare. _It had been for his mother._  This whole party had been to celebrate his mother's life, or so he'd told himself, six months on from her murder. Worse than that, Kalique and Balem had been there to witness it all. Where were they now? A Regenex bath  _would_ calm his nerves, Titus decided, finally.

Stripping off his attire (which after tonight, there was very little left of), he made his way to the bathing room of his clipper. Padding barefoot through the archway, Titus was met with the large marble tiled floor enclosing the Regenex pool, facing the wall to wall glass window that showcased the deep, purple depths of space. For a brief moment he felt relieved.

"Come to join me, brother?" Came the cool, confident tone of his sister as she emerged from the depth of the Regenex pool, her thick, dark locks and soft pale skin glimmering anew.

"Kalique…I didn't realise you were here…." Titus began, suddenly becoming very aware of his lack of clothing. He smiled.

"Oh don't be silly, Titus." Kalique laughed, playfully. "You act as if I've never seen it before."

"Well I'd rather you hadn't, sister." He smirked, attempting to mask the uncomfortableness.

"Oh, you sound like Balem." Kalique sighed, splashing some of the Regenex water at Titus, most of which missed, spilling across the marble tiles. "Are you joining me or not?"

Titus finally climbed into the pool, feeling the instant, tingling warmth of the Regenex as it rushed over his skin and rejuvenated his cells soothe him immensely. For a moment the pure bliss of the sensation was enough to make him forget entirely, how deeply miserable he had become.

"Do you ever think of those souls who gave their life so we could have this?" Kalique asked, airily. Her hands reached up, fingers parted, Regenex ran from them back into the pool. "I know, I know, I ask this all the time." She wasn't really concerned, of course. It was playful small talk.

"No." Titus said, pouring a handful of Regenex over his face. His face was most important of all. "Like our  _dear_ brother says, some lives will always matter more than others."

"And do you believe that, little brother?"

"Yes." Titus admitted, for he truly did. "Although I do hate to agree with Balem." He gazed out of the window briefly. The deep, murkiness of space was so daunting he felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of it.

"Oh, don't be so cruel to our dear brother." Kalique laughed, swimming slightly closer until she and Titus were mere inches apart. Her hands reached out to caress his cheek lightly. His skin felt smoother already. "You know- I think, you were always mother's favourite. " She paused, gazing back at her beautifully amoral sibling with intrigue. "Balem may be the richest, he may hold the most power, but mother…she saw his weakness. That's why she left him more. She knew he needed it. He's a broken soul, as you well know. His composure cannot last much longer. Even Regenex cannot correct our fractured sanity."

His sister's final sentence haunted him, terrified him, but Titus met his sister's gaze with a confident grin. For she was right, of course.

"I was really her favourite, you think?" He smirked.

"You were always my favourite too." Kalique purred.

She leaned in, so did he. Titus' lips met with her own.


	2. Morals

As the glimmering reflection of the pool danced across the domed ceiling of the bathing room playfully, Kalique was drying her hair by the pool side. She turned to Titus, who lay sprawled against one of the velvet lounge chairs nearby, partially covered by a towel. He was still gazing up at the dancing flickers of light reflecting from the water below.

“Are you going to ignore me for a while now, Titus?” She smirked, “Like the last time we fucked?”

“I just assumed we were done talking.” Titus replied, nonchalantly, his gaze remaining unbroken with the ceiling. He wouldn’t look at her.

It wasn’t particularly in Kalique’s nature to speak vulgarly, but she couldn't resist the painfully obvious wince that came over her brother’s face whenever she reminded him just how long ago their morals had withered away. Speaking for herself, Kalique couldn’t say she remembered the last time she had genuinely experienced guilt or remorse regarding anything she did.  Time was an excellent suppressant, and she’d had an awful lot of time. But Titus was far younger than her, she reminded herself, and still felt a lot of these emotions quite strongly, despite his remarkable capacity to take hedonism to theatrical degrees.

Kalique smiled, how lucky she was, she thought to herself. How lucky she was to be this age, the middle Abrasax sibling, the only truly happy one. Unlike Balem, whose bitterness and loneliness had turned him into little more than a stiff, hollow shell with an occasionally volatile temper. He was far older than her, and his voice, strained and toneless, spoke of many thousands of years too long. Unlike poor tormented Titus, the narcissistic little thing rolling around in sickly extravagance by day and no doubt crying himself to sleep at night.

“Come on now,” Kalique grinned that same mischievous grin, tying her towel around herself loosely and wandering over to where Titus lay, she slid herself onto the end of the chair. “Don’t be so silly. It’s just a bit of fun, after all.”

 _“Don’t be silly, Titus, don’t be so silly.”_ Titus imitated his sister’s voice and her extremely over-used (yet bizarrely reassuring) phrase.

Kalique raised an eyebrow, pausing to see whether or not this was an attempt at teasing her (as her brother was so very fond of doing) or if he was continuing to pretend to sulk. He sat up, a faint grin on his face, although it did seem a little forced.

“Put some clothes on now _, silly_.” Kalique teased back, playfully shoving Titus against his chest. “We had best go to bed, before Balem catches us in here. You know how he disapproves of such….activities.”  She laughed, jumping up from the chair and wondering over to the pool side to retrieve her gown she had been wearing earlier on at the party.

Titus got up shortly afterwards, pulling on his t-shirt that appeared to have been partially ripped at the neck, probably during one of the many zero-gravity ‘sessions’ she’d  avoided witnessing that night.

“I’ll walk you to your room, Kalique.”

As they exited the bathing room, Kalique felt perfectly relaxed in the knowledge that her dynamic with Titus had now resumed to its default, platonic state.  Sex was just a raw physical act, after all. He could have been anyone, really. As a brother, she loved him in her own way, she supposed. Yes, he was an idiot who would likely get himself killed eventually in some venture to claim Balem’s inheritance (he talked about it incessantly, after all), but she would no doubt miss him just as she missed her mother.

“We have a lot to discuss, before I leave, brother.” Kalique said, as the two finally reached the archway to her guest room. “We must discuss Mother’s wishes, and of course… address these rumours we’ve been hearing.”

“Yes, I’m sure Balem would be delighted to discuss all of this with _me._ ” Titus smirked.

“Oh don’t be—“

“Silly? Don’t be silly?”

“Now I’m sure you can both get along just long enough to sort some matters out, little brother. Perhaps you could find it in that sentimental heart of yours to show him some kindness? Poor Balem still isn’t feeling himself, you know…”

“I suppose I’ll try, but _only_ because you asked so nicely, sister.” Titus agreed, finally.

After a brief, platonic embrace, Titus had begun to walk in the opposite direction, towards the master bedroom.

“Oh, Titus?” Kalique called, just before her brother reached the end of the hall. “ _Great_ party.”

 

 


	3. Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little shorter than the previous two, but there shall be more chapters up soon!

He’d sat by her side for maybe ten minutes before accepting she was really gone.  The murder weapon now discarded and completely out of sight, the shock felt as if Balem had simply discovered his mother’s corpse, not created it.  He’d lifted her hands and held them in his; they were lifeless, cold. Her eyes were glassy, and her dark hair had begun to clump with the blood leaking from her presumably split skull. _What have I done?_   Balem felt his whole body shake as he knelt beside his mother’s body.  He ran a trembling hand across her cheek, his nerves shot to pieces, a lump forming in his throat and his heart racing.

“I’m so sorry, Mother.” Balem whispered, his soft voice breaking as he did so, feeling his whole body overcome with a deathly chill as the realisation of what he had done began to set in.  He found his mind spiralling into uncontrollable rambling.

 “You know I loved you...didn’t you?” Balem asked, tearfully.

_What have I done?_

_“_ Maybe you loved _them_ more, but they didn’t care about you like I did.”

 _What have I done?_  

“Kalique never appreciated you….”

_What have I done?_

“… and Titus, he doesn’t even deserve to share your name!”

The glare of the distant suns shone over the balcony, illuminating the deep red of the spilled blood, the translucency of his mother’s skin. Balem gazed over towards the balcony, and at once, a fleeting thought crossed over his mind. He didn’t have to live with this. He could prevent the torturous guilt he would be sure to feel by ending his own life. The fall from the Abrasax Tower would undoubtedly kill him. Perhaps he would even be reunited with her. Perhaps—

“Balem, what are you doing?”

He froze, gazing at the blood stained stone floor, hoping desperately he had imagined the voice. It had happened before, after all.

Titus’ sudden gasp of horror was all too real, however.

****

Balem awoke with a start, finding himself sat bolt upright in a cold sweat, his hair, previously smooth and slicked back, was now hanging over his forehead in separated strands, his eyes wet with tears.  Steadying his breathing, he scanned around the dim light of the room. Where was he, one of Titus’ guest rooms? Judging by the garish red velvet décor, this was more than likely. He hadn’t remembered going to bed in much detail as a lot of wine had been drank towards the end of the night. Not for the purpose of enjoyment, more to avoid wrapping his hands round his insufferable little brother’s neck and squeezing the life out of him. The disrespect he’d shown towards their mother tonight had been something else, even for him. The pinnacle of the night, Balem decided, was perhaps Titus announcing he’d buy a palace for the ‘best fuck of the night’, before proceeding to fall into a stand of champagne flutes.

Regretting deeply his decision to stay for an extra day tomorrow (‘sorting out business matters’ as Titus had so vaguely put it), Balem reluctantly slid back against the vile red bedsheets, hoping sleep would be merciful enough to remain dreamless for the rest of the night.


	4. Freckles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a disclaimer for this chapter: I don't think freckles are ugly! They're fascinating. Also, in case you are wondering what 'Elite' is - space drugs, basically. Yep.

It was difficult to pinpoint what exactly morning was on Titus’ clipper, seeing as it wasn’t orbiting any particular planet currently and therefore had little to no sunlight to distinguish between the days. Perhaps living in his clipper as he had been since his mother’s death had been the catalyst for his admittedly more indulgent lifestyle recently. Titus considered this as he completed his routine scan for imperfections on his body in the wall to wall mirror of his bedroom. Today he’d found a faint patch of freckles forming on his upper arm he had not previously noticed; perhaps they’d been there some centuries ago?  Despite its immense catalogue of benefits, Regenex still had a habit of rejuvenating unwanted imperfections within the cells. 

At first, Titus had found himself overcome with irrational panic. Frantically, he had attempted to scrub them off with soap. _Soap._   Finally, on the brink of tears, Titus realised he was becoming more anxious about this mild imperfection than he could comprehend. Balem’s face was dotted with freckles, ugly little imperfections that even thousands of years bathing in Regenex could not fix. Titus had always prided himself in not only sharing little in common personality-wise with Balem, but also baring no physical resemblance to his sibling either. They would go, however, Titus told himself. They weren’t like Balem’s. He’d take another bath soon, and they’d go.

***

“Titus! At last you join us! You certainly do enjoy being fashionably late.”  

Kalique’s friendly yet mocking tone rang across the dining hall.

“I don’t think our brother understands the concept of being fashionably late, Kalique. Correct me if I’m wrong, but two hours seems to push the boundaries from fashionable to infuriating.” Balem managed to say all of this without a single glance in Titus’ direction as he finally strolled into the room, some hours after they’d agreed upon.

“I’m sorry, I really am. I’m just so terrible at getting out of bed at the moment.” Titus smiled without even a hint of sincerity in his voice, pulling up a chair slightly closer to Balem than Kalique.  Balem’s already amusingly tense and uptight demeanour seemed to immediately increase. Good.  “I suppose I just enjoyed my party a little too much.”

Balem scoffed, practically slamming the glass in his hand back down against the table.

Kalique stifled a laugh.

“Something wrong, brother?” Titus turned towards his sibling, the smile on his face briefly transcending into a smirk, seeing as Kalique was currently preoccupied with the patterned tablecloth and trying not to laugh.

“ _Your_ party, Titus? And at what point in the night did you finally decide it was _your_ party and not Mother’s?  Could it have been the moment you indulged yourself with that group of genetic splice garbage in your ridiculous….” He seemed to pause, as if to consider the most condescending description available, “… zero-gravity fuckfield?”

Kalique burst out laughing, as Titus found himself struggling to avoid doing the same.

“…Or maybe it was the point of the night you decided to take enough Elite to power a small planet?” Balem continued, after a bemused pause at the sight of his sister essentially betraying him. It was a shame, he’d always felt a vague sense of kinship with his sister, but every instance of closeness he felt towards her was periodically shattered when she sided with or encouraged Titus in some way.

Kalique managed to composure herself once more.

“Oh Balem, you’re such a bore. Personally I think Mother would have loved to see her legacy honoured in such a way! She hated mundanity, after all. Besides, Elite cannot kill us, I should know.” Titus sighed, opening a bottle of water and pouring it into the glass beside him. He withdrew a small vial from his pocket, pouring some of the gold, sparkling liquid into the water.

“Elite before breakfast, Titus? Are you sure?” Kalique asked, her voice vaguely laced with what he could have sworn was concern.

“I like to feel as sharp as I possibly can at all times, sister.” Titus smiled, raising his glass in the air slightly, before taking a sip, feeling the vaguely (it didn’t work so well straight after a Regenex bath, for some reason) euphoric rush of the Elite tingle through his cells.

Kalique rolled her eyes. Elite was fatal to the mortals, especially the splices, but repeated use of Regenex had rendered it virtually harmless, seemingly.

“Anyway, I feel we still haven’t touched upon the subject of business much since Mother’s death.” Titus began, his gaze drifting towards Balem once again.

“You keep mentioning this matter of ‘business’, Titus, but I can’t help but wonder what you really mean.” Balem sighed.

“I simply wished to discuss Mother’s empire, now she is no longer in charge. Of course, brother, _you_ are the head of the company now, and quite rightly so… but I feel both I and Kalique could contribute more effectively than we are currently.”

“And how, exactly, are you planning on doing this, Titus?” Balem asked, bored. He knew what was coming.

“Well, I just feel if I were to overlook the production on some of the more abundant planets such as you have—“

“Titus, when has this little story ever worked in the past?” Balem interrupted, turning to look at his brother properly for the first time that day. “Mother left you a pitiful inheritance because she knew you couldn’t take care of her industry properly. Irresponsible, I think was the word she used. So no, I don’t think I shall be gifting you any of my inheritance any time soon.”

“Balem, don’t be so mean to our little brother!” Kalique smiled, “…he’s just a baby compared to us, after all. He’ll learn how to contribute greatly with time.”

“Titus has lived through several millennia, Kalique. He is far from a baby.” Balem sighed, rising from his seat to leave.

Titus had remained uncharacteristically silent during this exchange, and found himself staring into his glass briefly.

“If that’s everything, I think it’s about time I return home, don’t you?” Balem asked, rhetorically, before turning to leave the dining hall.

Titus watched as Balem exited the room before turning to Kalique, flashing that familiar smirk in her direction and ignoring the feeling of utter defeat that had begun to wash over him.

“Well it was worth a try, I guess.”


	5. Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to say, thanks so much for those who have left Kudos and comments so far! Much appreciated! :) Also, I've made a playlist for this fic, in case anyone is interested in listening: [Royal Space Brats](http://8tracks.com/arcaya/royal-space-brats)

  **Six months earlier**

The funeral was over, the last of the mourners had left maybe an hour ago. The palace was empty, with the exception of numerous non-descript servants rushing from room to room, presumably in an attempt to avoid any exchange with the three siblings. Balem remained slumped against one of the elaborately designed armchairs, one arm perched against the armrest; the other flopped down at his side. His appearance had become increasingly dishevelled throughout the day, his hair now hanging in wayward strands, his nails bitten down to the finger from hours of nervous and carefully worded chatter with people he wished never to see again, his eyes glassy and blank from the hours of contained sorrow, anger.

“I thought I’d find you in here.”  Titus’ voice seemed to barely register to Balem as he entered the room. “This room was always her favourite, wasn’t it?”

Balem ignored Titus, continuing to stare blankly at the wall of his mother’s library.

“I could never understand her fascination with reading, she loved it so much and I just couldn’t see the use in it. I’ve never had time for it, although she did try so hard to make me read those ghastly volumes on…oh what was it…” Titus said, glancing over the bookcases, running his hands over _everything,_ as if it were necessary to touch it to talk about it.

Balem’s perched hand briefly closed into a fist, before opening once more. He took a sharp intake of breath and sighed.

“…Something about the harvested planets and how life had been made there or something. It seemed very dull.” Titus continued guessing.

“The Wonders of the Universe, they were called The Wonders of the Universe.” Balem muttered.

“Right. Yes, of course. The Wonders of the…Universe.”

Titus’ enraging cheeriness seemed to dwindle, Balem detected hesitation in his voice. Perhaps he’d leave him alone, a small mercy amidst a day of torment.

He noticed Titus swig from the golden chalice in his hand out of the corner of his eye, before sitting down in the arm chair nearby.

“Is there any  particular reason you’re here?” Balem asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Titus didn’t respond.

“Perhaps you could grant me the mercy of leaving me alone then. I don’t wish to be rude, but I suppose it’s the only way you’ll listen.”

For a while, there remained no response, and Balem turned his head in Titus’ direction, expecting some form of hostile smirk in reply.  What he saw confused him.

Titus was sat with his head in his hands, shaking with muffled sobs. It was a sight Balem had not witnessed for centuries.

“I miss her.” He sobbed, pulling his face up to dry away the tears that had managed to escape from him. “I didn’t realise I would, I…I never really…”

“Cared? Of course you didn’t. You’re selfish.” Balem interrupted, unmoved, his hands reflexing into a fist once again. “Mother gave you everything you could have ever wanted after all; you were her little Golden Boy.  What use was there for affection when you already had everything you could have ever dreamt of?”

“That isn’t fair, brother!” Titus protested tearfully, angrily.

Not fair? _Not fair?_ Balem knew exactly what wasn’t fair, his mother appointing the vast majority of her inheritance to _Titus._ Why? What was so special about him? How could she have, how had she even _dared? Had she not loved him as she said she had?_  The betrayal had been the reason they had fought that day up on the balcony, and it had been the reason she was no longer here. Of course, once she was gone, she could not control who tampered with her ‘wishes’ for the allocation of her inheritance.  But the pain still remained. She’d chosen Titus over him. And now she was gone, because of _him._

“Oh stop snivelling like that, Titus, it’s extremely unbecoming. What had you really expected from this exchange? Comfort? Did you want me to comfort you, relieve you of your guilt? I hope the guilt destroys you, brother. It should do.”  Balem whispered, coldly.

Titus had managed to compose himself somewhat by now, drying the tears away from his face, he finished the drink he had been holding and stood up, staring bitterly back at his sibling. That snarky little leer had returned.

“Forgive me brother, I forgot you become a little cruel shortly before a Regenex bath. I’d be quite bitter too, if I’d aged to such an extent.” Titus smirked, clearly embarrassed about his sudden loss of control, but infuriating as ever regardless.

“If it’s comfort you seek, Titus, perhaps our dear sister can offer you it? You’re quite partial to her these days, aren’t you? Now that Mother isn’t around, I suppose you can do whatever you want, or whoever.”

Titus for once appeared lost for words, shooting Balem one final poisonous glare, he promptly stormed out of the library, leaving Balem alone once more.

She was gone, _because of him._


	6. Scar

Several hours had passed since the predictably unpleasant family meeting, and Balem had yet to initiate his departure from the clipper. The past few hours had been spent within the garish red guest room in frustrating indecision as he considered whether or not it was best to leave under such tense circumstances. As if the circumstances had _ever_ been agreeable when Titus was concerned.

Finding himself at a loss, Balem had eventually found himself indulging in something he considered to be more typical of his vain little brother. He'd stared at his reflection for roughly an hour. Initially, this gaze had been one of awe as he'd found himself marvelling at his appearance, the amazing value of timeless preservation Regenex had brought to him. However this soon, inevitably, descended into disgust. He eventually began glancing over the imperfections of his genetic makeup, and then, the scars Regenex had been incapable to erase. It had started with the freckles, dashed across his face in inelegant clusters. A sign of imperfection, impurity. And then, in an instance of furthering his self-pity, he'd found himself compelled to remove his elaborate metal collar, casting it aside as he stared back at himself. His true self. The scar was deep, the middle of his throat a jarringly white shade of scar tissue. He found himself cringing as he ran a finger across his damaged throat. Whatever that splice had done to him, it had been permanant. He couldn't quite remember the event itself, first a disagreement, a betrayal, and then excrutiating pain. Balem stared back with dampened eyes, frustration building within. Why had he agreed to stay here, to indulge that vile little narcissist in every desire he had? How he could have been foolish enough to believe Titus had really been holding a party to honour their mother was now beyond him.

****

It had been a long day. After Balem had stormed off with a yet to be fulfilled promise of his departure, Titus had decided to 'celebrate' by consuming a startling quantity of Elite. Kalique had been there for a while, he'd tried to fuck her as he had the previous night, she wasn't interested.

"Get some sleep, Titus." She'd smiled, before vanishing to one of the guest rooms. He'd tried to find her, unsuccessfully.

 _"Get some sleep, Titus."_   He mimicked to himself, sneering at his own reflection in his bedroom mirror before collapsing back against his four poster bed in an Elite-induced daze. The room span, his vision doubled and then tripled, and a mild sensation of nausea hit him.

  
****

  
_'I love you, Titus.'_

_Seraphi's trembling hands grasped her son's as the two stood at the balcony of the Abrasax tower. Her eyes were damp with imminent tears, her face stained with those already fallen. 'You know, you were the only one who I really....'_

_She paused, glancing around as if to scan the area for potential eavesdroppers._

_'...Balem, he's my eldest. And I love him dearly, despite his instabilities. And Kalique, my only daughter, so beautiful...and yet so unlike me in every way that I'm almost repelled... but you - Titus... you...'_

_She raised a hand, ran it across his cheek softly._

_'Mother, are you OK?" Titus asked, noting Seraphi's imminent loss of composure._

_'No, sweetheart, I'm--'_

_'Mother? May we speak?' Balem's unsettling voice interjected, causing both Titus and his mother to turn towards the open archway of the balcony. How long had he been there?_

_'Why, of course Balem. Titus and I were just--'_

_'Alone, perhaps?' Balem snapped, looking first to Seraphi, then, with a great deal more hostility, to Titus. 'Titus? Would you be so kind?'_

_'Of course, brother.'_

_Titus released his hands from Seraphi's grasp, smiling at her with a rare genuine affection as he passed by Balem, through to the entrance of the tower. She smiled back at him, every inch of her expression sorrowful. It was to be the very last time he'd see her alive. He knew. He'd discovered her body, and Balem, roughly an hour later. He knew what his brother had done. He--_

  
****

  
"Is this your latest past-time, Titus? Daytime inebriation?"

Titus awoke with a start, pulling himself up from the silk sheets of his bed, wearily. Everything hurt. He attempted to focus his eyes on Balem's blurred figure, standing within the doorway. He was holding something, but what?

"...Balem?"  
"Well done."  
"What are you doing here? I thought you had...had..." He paused, closing his eyes briefly as the awful, Elite induced headache became apparent.  
"Don't worry, I'll be leaving shortly." Balem's figure came closer, partially into focus. What was he holding? "You see, Titus, I thought, perhaps, you'd like a proper goodbye before I leave?"

Titus' vision finally came into focus, and his eyes widened.  
An angry smirk had formed upon Balem's face.

"Come now, there's no need to be afraid."


	7. Confrontation

_“Are you done?”_

Titus gazed back at Balem, what looked to be a black eye beginning to form already, his expression a glazed, drug induced stare. He lay slumped against one of the stone pillars of his bedroom, his hair a mess of blood and sweat.  He may have lost the fight, but the smirk was still there, as always, however.

Balem didn’t respond, his back slightly turned to his brother (not entirely, of course), he began assembling the parts to the Gamma pistol. It hadn’t been in any formation to kill his brother upon his entry to Titus’ bedroom 20 minutes earlier, but Titus being incomprehensibly high and generally lacking any common sense had made it very easy to threaten him with it regardless.   _What are you doing?_ Some vague, distant part of Balem’s brain seemed to be laughing at him. He hadn’t intended on speaking to Titus before leaving the clipper after their horrendous meeting earlier, and until he’d allowed himself to reflect on just how much he hated his sibling, how he’d been the moronic, undeserving wedge between Balem and his mother, he certainly hadn’t planned on this…

“What are you doing?” Titus asked, his tone mocking, sneering.

Balem didn’t respond. He finished assembling the Gamma pistol and slowly turned around, walking closer to Titus. He aimed the pistol at him, his expression one of jarring anticipation as his finger wavered over the trigger. _What am I doing?_  Balem asked himself once more, before realising he didn’t care to find a conclusion to this question.

The smug expression didn’t vanish entirely, but the horror that had begun to cross Titus’ face was impossible to miss. For a brief moment, Balem felt entirely powerful, entirely relieved. In a moment, this smarmy, hedonistic little prick would be gone forever - obliterated into history in a matter of seconds. Although, ‘history’ would be far too much of a compliment to ascribe to someone like Titus’ legacy.  He’d contributed nothing to history, he’d contributed nothing to the Abrasax name.  Regardless, this was the end, and for a few glorious moments Balem revelled in Titus’ imminent demise.

And then the laughter began. Bitter, pained, hysterical laughter.

“Are you going to kill me, Balem?” He laughed, a desperate, miserable laugh. It was something Balem had detected many times in Titus’ tone, the sarcasm that masked the underlying hurt hadn’t gone unnoticed entirely, it was more that Balem simply had not cared, it seemed he’d never really registered it fully until now.  And then—

“Are you going to kill me, as you killed my mother?”

Balem lowered his weapon, finding himself shaking.

“What did you just say?”  Balem whispered, walking closer to Titus still.

Titus’ smirk had returned almost entirely as he pushed himself up from the pillar until he was standing, facing Balem.

“You murdered my mother.” He sneered, his eyes still distant and glazed, his words slurring. But he knew what he was saying. “I knew from the day I found you on that balcony with her… “

Balem remained speechless as his eyes met Titus’, his body still shaking against his will.

“…You couldn’t take it, could you? She loved me more, Balem. And you couldn’t take it.”

With a sharp whirl of his Gamma pistol, Balem caught the side of Titus’ face, leaving a deep gash in the side of his left cheek.

Titus shrieked.

“My face! My fucking face! This is going to scar, it’s…  it’s…going to fucking _scar_!” Titus half slurred, half wailed, dashing over to the nearby mirror and examining the gash on his face. “Balem, you fucking prick! You’ve disfigured me! You of all people know Regenex can’t always heal the deeper ones! Look at that horrific thing on your neck!  If this scars, I’ll-- ” 

After a while, Titus’ petulant screaming seemed to fade out of Balem’s consciousness, his mind wandering back millennia as he thought of Seraphi.

 _‘Honestly, sometimes I worry the genetics lab got him wrong!’_ An angry woman screamed in his mind.

_‘Why is he like that? What’s wrong with him? Why doesn’t he understand how to do this? Why won’t he interact with the others?’_

The angry voices of his memory, of Seraphi, seemed to cluster together into a suffocating shout, and then—

“Balem, what is going on here?!” Kalique’s voice brought him back to the present, and he suddenly found himself back in Titus’ bedroom, glaring back at his sister, who’s confused expression had a hint of something else he couldn’t quite decipher, as she attempted to calm down Titus, who was still whining and sobbing about his face, and muttering a series of empty threats at him into Kalique’s shoulders.

Without a response, Balem found himself practically running from the room, his mind becoming blank.


	8. Departure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the penultimate chapter of The Mother We Share, a little shorter than most, but the final chapter will be up very soon. Thank you once again to everyone who has read my fic, I’ve really appreciated all the feedback so far. :)

“He’s going to pay for this…” 

Titus was no longer slurring, although his state of partial confusion from the Elite hadn’t quite worn off. Kalique ignored him, continuing to dab his skin with her Regenex soaked handkerchief, running it against the gash Balem had caused some twenty minutes ago. Titus had been persistently wittering on since that moment, and for once, Kalique had begun to experience a strange empathy with Balem. Titus was irritating her.

  
“He wanted to make me as ugly as him. He knew what he was doing! He wanted to make me ugly like he is…” Titus sniffed, muttering the same line for perhaps the tenth time that hour.

  
“Oh, enough!” Kalique snapped, finally, pulling Titus’ own hand up to the Regenex cloth and pressing it against his face. “I can’t listen to any more of your self-pity, Titus! It’s making me want to put a similar mark in the other side of your face! Not that the bloody thing is going to scar you anyway!”

  
Titus’ expression was dumbstruck, he watched as Kalique wandered over to the bedroom window and stood, arms folded, her back to him. She sighed, waiting for the inevitable change in her younger sibling’s tone. The whiney toddler act was perhaps his favourite to use on her, after all she never admitted how sickening she found it- his petulant rage towards not getting his own way, being told what to do, towards anything regarding Balem. But with Titus, emotions seemed as interchangeable as the numerous lives comprised in making a bottle of Regenex.

  
“What is this, sister? Are you sympathising with Balem now, after all these years?” Titus’ tone was mocking, although there was a distinct, genuine pain somewhere in his voice too, which shocked Kalique. “Tired of fucking just me, are you?”

  
“Oh shut up Titus!” Kalique couldn’t listen to it, not today. She turned around, storming over to where her sibling sat, that smug little grin finally being directed towards her was almost unbearable. “Have you ever considered Balem hates you so much because you hate him equally?”

  
“He was going to _kill_ me!”

  
“No he wasn’t!” Kalique bit back. “He wouldn’t have been able to do that! Not again! Not after—“ Her words trailed off, but she hadn’t stopped herself soon enough.

  
“Not after he killed our mother?” Titus asked, expectantly.

  
Kalique remained silent, unsure of what to say.

  
“How long did you know?” Titus asked, finally, standing and walking over to the wall mirror to examine the healing process of his face so far. “Actually, never mind. I don’t care.”

  
“Titus—“

  
“Why don’t you see to Balem before he leaves?” Titus interrupted, reaching for the vial of Elite resting against his bedside table.

  
“You don’t need any more of that.” Kalique tried.

  
“Oh, yes.” Titus laughed, “Yes, Kalique, I do.”

  
Within the hour, both Kalique and Balem’s transport had arrived, and the two had left separately without a word to each other or Titus.


	9. Jupiter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the final chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading and would love to know what you thought. Thanks for reading. :)

** Six Months Later **

Half a year had been all it took to destroy the Great House of Abrasax. Half a year had been all it took to undo thousands upon thousands of years’ worth of power, prestige and glory. Kalique stood at the height of the Abrasax tower with unfallen tears in her eyes, her jewelled fingers wrapped around the edge of the balcony, clinging on in frustrated agony. Balem was dead, and more importantly, (that offensive excuse for) her mother’s reincarnation had inherited his fortune, not that she needed any of it. Regenex production was to cease, the harvests immediately abolished. Once Kalique’s supplies ran out, that was it. She found herself stifling a scream at that thought.

Six months ago, Titus had held an abomination of a gathering to honour their mother’s life, and Kalique couldn’t help but experience a sense of grim déjà vu as she stood at the edge of the balcony, mentally preparing herself to re-join the party being held in Balem’s honour. However, this time, for obvious reasons, Kalique had been the one to play the host.  She’d always wanted Abrasax towers, although it had been part of Balem’s inheritance. Now it was hers, she didn’t really want it. Jupiter had given a lot of Balem’s inheritance (with the exception of the one thing Kalique actually wanted- the planets) to her, for she wrongly continued to believe there was some sort of affiliation or friendship between them. Kalique laughed bitterly at the very idea; she hadn’t even had a friendship with her _real_ mother.

It had taken a while to sift through the party guests, who all seemed to share an insulting insincerity as they told her how incredibly sorry they were for her loss. They weren’t, nor was she. Balem had become a tedious obstacle, his sanity had been on the decline for centuries before he finally snapped, and although there was a part of her that felt wholly devastated that she would never see him again, most of her was simply relieved she was now the Primary heir. Not that this was so simple anymore;  Jupiter Jones had proven incredibly hard to kill, Balem had died trying to do so, and if it hadn’t been for some incredibly saccharine manipulation on Kalique’s part, Titus would have been spending the next few centuries in prison for his attempt on Jupiter’s life.  Honestly, she had regretted the decision to rescue him ever since. It was Balem’s death, she told herself, she’d panicked, hadn’t wanted to be the last, lonely sibling sitting amongst the wreckage of the fallen Abrasax legacy.

“Why are you sat in here by yourself? “ Kalique asked as she reached the doorway of the dimly lit library. Her once silky, calm tone now seemed permanently replaced with a snappy, harsh one when addressing Titus; it had been so ever since she’d had him released from prison.

“I’m trying to find that book, The Wonders of the Harvest… the wonders of…Jupiter…” Titus was slurring, who knows what he’d taken.  It was tiring keeping up these days. “…the Universe….  That’s what he said it was called…”

“What?”

“Balem. Balem was telling me about…the books mother used to read to me. When I was young… she read them to me. He said they were called The Wonders of the Universe…” Titus passed under a lamp, and the tired lines under his eyes were illuminated briefly. He’d been using Regenex sparingly in the past few months; he had to after all, now it was in limited supply.

Kalique’s expression softened slightly. Wordlessly, she pulled her younger sibling into an embrace, running a hand through his hair as she pressed her arms around him tighter than she could remember ever having done so before. How was it she could have existed for 14 millennia and still manage to become as desperately afraid as she had as a small child of 4 or 5?

“It’s not fair.” Titus muttered into her shoulder, “None of this is fair.”

“It never _was_ fair, Titus.” Kalique sighed.

Some lives mattered more than others, and in the eyes of the universe, the life of Jupiter Jones mattered more than the lives of Seraphi Abrasax’s spoilt offspring.

***

The party had gone on for several hours after Kalique had re-joined it, and she’d done her very best to entertain the guests with her usual charming persona that she had begun to loathe almost as much as she loathed Jupiter Jones.  Perhaps if she hadn’t relied on charm to obtain her goals, none of this would have happened? She had always been the most balanced sibling after all, free of the madness and cynicism that had gripped poor Balem and the self-destructive narcissism that dictated Titus’ every move.   She should have- _could_ have- killed Jupiter Jones when she had the chance.

“The party’s over now.” Kalique announced to the empty hallway, as she strolled down it in search of Titus. She had left him searching for that ridiculous book several hours ago and could only assume he was still there now, scrambling through the pages of their mother’s ancient books. He’d seemed pretty intent on finding it.

“Titus, for goodness sake! Come on, the guests have left! You don’t need to hide out in here.” Kalique sighed, reaching the doorway to the library to see Titus curled into the foetal position, his back turned to her. Beside him, there lay a copy of The Wonders of the Universe. “You’re sleeping here? Do you want to sleep in my room, will that make you happy? Don’t be dramatic.”

Frustrated, Kalique stormed over to Titus, grabbing hold of his shoulder to wake him up. He was cold. As she turned him over onto his back, Kalique was already aware her brother was dead. An overdose.  It had happened many times before, only he’d been within the vicinity of other people and Regenex each and every time. Not this time. Kalique blinked back the onset of tears as she looked back at Titus. It was difficult to accept mortality after so many millennia successfully defying it.

***

_Seraphi Abrasax held the bottle of Regenex in her hand, gazing through the clear liquid in awe._

_“Eternal youth, beauty and wealth.  Why would I say no? After all, some lives will always matter more than others.”_


End file.
